CHICAGO — It’s a good thing that the “Party at Napoli’s” t-shirts have raised money for charity, because the proceeds are going to be extremely limited for the “Cool, Calm, Collected and Rational Thought at Napoli’s” shirts.
The reason for this is that nobody would even see those shirts, as they are to be worn underneath jackets that are well suited to deal with the unpleasantness of standing outside on a 46-degree night with a not insignificant breeze.
Napoli was keeping warm in front of the visitors’ dugout at Wrigley Field, where players did their postgame interviews this weekend because the clubhouse is too small for the World Series media crush. The area had been quiet and pleasant for press gatherings the on Friday and Saturday. After the Cubs’ 3-2 win in Sunday night’s Game 5, to extend the series to a sixth game back in Cleveland on Tuesday, fans stuck around and cheered, celebrating victory in the final baseball played on the North Side this year.
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“We play well at home,” Napoli said, correctly, about a Cleveland team that tied Texas for the best home mark in the American League this year, and has gone 5-1 on home turf in the playoffs. “We did what we had to do here. We got two out of three. We did what we wanted to do here. We’re gonna get to play in front of our fans. We put ourselves in a situation to win tonight, but they played a good ballgame. It was a good overall baseball game. We’ll have an off day tomorrow and we’ll be happy to get out there in front of our fans.”
It’s true that if Cleveland had won two out of three at Wrigley in a different order, the vibe would be all about how they were going home with two chances to win their first World Series since 1948. The fact that they started with three, and the fact that they were 18 outs away from doing it, does not change the equation of having two chances at home.
The Cubs will have plenty of confidence, sure, and well they should. They’re an 103-win team that will have last year’s Cy Young winner on the mound in Game 6, followed by this year’s major league ERA leader if there’s a Game 7. And they’ll have Kyle Schwarber back in the lineup. In a lot of ways, this series is about to go back to the way that it started, with so very much focus on the Cubs, after Cleveland had taken the spotlight with its chance to clinch.
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There’s going to be some talk between now and 8:08 p.m. ET on Tuesday night about the Cubs starting to put things together offensively. The truth of the matter is, Chicago had three runs on five hits in one inning on Sunday night against a pitcher who should not have been in the game, as his manager erred in trying to ride a hot hand rather than relying on good baseball sense – a rare mistake by Terry Francona.
In the seven innings of Game 5 where Cleveland made good pitching choices (Mike Clevinger for the fifth was iffy, but it worked, so give Francona a pass), the Cubs had zero runs on two hits.
Napoli outright laughed at the notion that Cleveland’s pitching is somehow faltering, though he knows that’s how things will be packaged.
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“No,” he said. “No. Not one bit. It was one inning, you know? The bullpen came in and did what they had to do. We’re still a confident group. Nobody’s hanging their head in that clubhouse. We’re all ready to go, pack up, sleep in our own beds, and get after it when the time comes.”
Cool, Calm, Collected and Rational Thought at Napoli’s, quite honestly, is not that exciting. But it’s what Cleveland needs to make sure that the party still happens.